I'll share with you, Mimi.
Almost gone! (He was already bathed and ready for bed and needed another bath by the time he was finished eating his ice cream!)
Mimi and two of her four grandkids. We love Mimi, and she sure loves us, too!
Nolan's excitement was priceless when he saw his favorite Sesame Street characters first appear on stage. It's those moments when we as parents are so thankful for these memorable moments! To see him light up the way he did is unforgettable.
We were able to have some special Mommy, Daddy, Nolan time. Ella stayed with our wonderful neighbor, Lou, that's always willing to spend time with our babies. Thank you, Lou, for this much needed one-on-one time with Nolan! We all had a blast!
Elmo's World, our favorite segment of Sesame Street!
Nolan loves his Melmo! When he wasn't singing or dancing, he was enjoying his popcorn while watching the show. Cheese!!!
What a wonderful evening we had with our son! We'd do it all again in a heartbeat! These are the times! 
Keith Smith, our Children's Pastor at Pantego Bible Church, did the ceremony. He did a wonderful job making her dedication very personal. We are so grateful we have a thoughtful and caring children's pastor to minister to our most precious blessings!
Ella received a special blessing with water from the Jordan River, the river Jesus was baptized in. It was so amazing! As soon as the blessing was said, Ella closed her eyes, became completely relaxed, and fell asleep. Although there is no "magic" in the water, we believe the Holy Spirit was moving in her.
Heirlooms! The gown she is wearing is a Christening gown my great-grandmother made. My father, his siblings, me, my siblings, some of my cousins, Nolan, and now Ella have all worn this gown. In addition, my great-grandmother made this shawl and won a prize for it. There is so much detail in it! It's a very beautiful piece!
We count ourselves blessed to have such a loving family. Shown below are Ella's parents and big brother, grandparents, Poppy, Mimi, and Papa. In addition, the Hankins, Bullard, Kling, and Yucuis families came to be a part of her dedication. Not pictured is Uncle Jim and Faye VanDam that was also present at the dedication.
During the dedication, we presented Ella with a spiritual time capsule that will be given to her later when she is at a point in her life that she understands what it means to have a personal relationship with God.
Then we started decorating and things got a little hairy. When he first started shaking the sprinkles over the cupcakes, he was determined to pick up every little sprinkle that fell on the cookie sheet. Cute. As you can see by the mountain of red sprinkles, he never thought they had enough on them!
The cake for daddy was just a crazy mess. It all started with the cake falling apart as I was taking it out of the pan. So of course, we had to "glue" it together with mounds of icing! And to be honest with you, I was having just as much fun as Nolan was. It's amazing how I get swept up in the innocent excitement he finds in the simple things. Sometimes we all need to roll up our sleeves and get a little messy; it's really quite fun!
By the way, our cake said "We heart U" before the top to the sprinkles was rammed into it. Again, Nolan had a heyday with the red sprinkles, hence the mountain. 
Daddy's lil' cupcake had to join in the fun. She was an observer this year, but don't you worry, she'll be in the middle of the fun next year, I'm sure!
This was a very fun and exhausting day for all three of us! Thankfully, daddy appreciated our hard work! He appreciated mommy's exhausting day so much that he gave me a gift certificate for a manicure and a pedicure for Valentine's Day. What wonderful pampering! I was also suprised with beautiful yellow tulips. Thanks daddy!
I'm sure we'll be baking again soon since it's pretty cheap entertainment, especially on those days that we can't go outside and play. A $0.69 box of cake mix and a $1.25 container of icing provides a good couple of hours of entertainment, not to mention great bonding and fun with your kiddos, if you do it the fun way!
Ella only briefly woke up to join the festivities.
Brenden Morrow is signing an 8x10 pic for us to add to our collection of cool autographs.
They also had a bunch of bounce houses outside for the kiddos. Nolan LOVED it!!! He's always been a jumping monkey, and since he had the bounce house all to himself, he had a ball!
Our sweet little girls.
We love raisins!
I think Grant is Ella's first boyfriend. She was all smiles!
Both Tyler and Grant wanted to check out this baby thing. To be honest with you, I think they were eyeing her pacifier the most! Grant even got to it when we weren't looking. He needed a little fix, I guess. Cute!
